Celithilil Barieth's Story

"What a poor town here, I thought there would at least be a rich merchant or a decent enough place to break into. There are few places I would dare even bother looking at let alone enter one," Celithilil said, standing in an alleyway. From what she was told, this was supposed to be a place with rich history. What she inferred was there would be rich, dying families. This was an occasion where she would tell no one where she was.

Faintly she heard some clanking of a lot of solid, metal-like objects. Her elf ears picked up some laughing also, accompanied with a decent sized group of people. Could this be a chance to pickpocket them? Either way she slipped on a hooded cloak and put the hood up to cover her ears, something she should have done before. Many people would question an unknown elf being here. Then moved indirectly to the laughing. It was getting fainter as they quieted down, but the location was still nearby. She found them and waited so they could pass by. When they were far enough gone she went the other direction, where there was theft there were two other things, scraps and possibly a witness. Inspecting all of the buildings, she found none with so much evidence as the one with an elf that was bleeding and disoriented. Celi's intuition was right, elves were not looked upon so brightly in Thedan.

She didn't bother trying to help, all she cared about was following the perpetrators. They had the loot, and where there's loot there's always more loot. Theft 101.

Quickly retracing her steps, which was going backwards, she found a trailer of the group. A small glimpse of him before he went around a corner. She would have to be careful with these people, she had no idea of how good they were and if they would kill her would she be seen or heard.

Acele

"He'll want your head now just as he wants mine, especially since you've decided not to turn me over to him," Acele started, she eyed the girl that stood before her. Though she was sure she could handle Sinead in a fight, she wasn't sure what kind of fighter Sinead was. If she had magic, than Acele wouldn't stand a chance. Going into any knife fight, the rogue was sure to win, but when it came to magic... well, Acele wasn't schooled in even the very basics of magic.

"You should come with me to the Red Dragon Inn. My companions are there, you should meet them as well. And, you should know that Thyra isn't human. She's dead, I killed her myself a while ago. I don't know how she is still wandering around, probably some foul magic, but we will destroy her and Faine. In the mean time, you should stay with us, being alone could prove fatal around him."

Acele gave one last look around the shop, eyed the now armed elven woman, and then stood, "Follow me, and quickly."

They started out into the crowded streets of Thedan, making their way to the Red Dragon. It took a little while to get there as the noon day rush was just starting. Once inside the darkness of the inn, Acele heard a voice calling to her.

"Acele! Where did you go?" Thalion's voice was filled with worry and a bit of anger.

"I didn't know where you went. So I left to find you. I ended up fighting with Thyra and saving this girls life," she replied a bit colder than she meant.

His deep blue eyes hardened at her, "You fought with Thyra? Acele, you just woke up from your last injury. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

His eye's narrowed and his jaw clenched into a fine, hard line, "You can't lie to me, Acele. Sit, eat and drink, you'll feel better."

The rogue rolled her eyes at him, but sat down and allowed him to get her something to eat and drink. She looked around the table that she sat at. Rissien was leaned back in his chair, a cup of ale in his hand. The one called Xin sat next to him quietly. She remembered him, then there was the warrior that Thalion had asked to help in Thurgir's shop. She didn't know his name. There was one more person that she didn't recognize. The woman leaned against the wall next to them, holding a bow in her hands. Their group had grown quite a bit larger. Acele wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing.

"Where did you go?"

"Went to kill Adan," Rissien answered, his grey eyes lowered, looking into his cup only. Acele knew that something bothered him, and it was probably about the crazed mage.

"He got away didn't he."

Rissien didn't answer, only raised an eyebrow, gave a short huff and took a drink of his ale. Acele took that as his way of saying yes. He wasn't normally like that, but when it came to killing a very dangerous criminal who enjoyed stealing women, Rissien was as honorable as they came.

"Yes, but we saved the girl. Sophira and Thurgir are upstairs with her now," Thalion answered softly.

"Is she alright?"

"Fine, he only had her under a sleeping spell. She's not hurt."

"Does this mean that Thurgir will fight with us?"

"It might. Would be nice to have a sturdy dwarf on our side."

"What's our next move?"

"Find Adan, kill him. Kill Faine if he shows up."

"Simple enough," Acele shrugged as she took a bit of her meat. Though it sounded simple, she knew it was far from it.

Faine

"You failed to take her," Faine growled in the alleyway. They were far enough away from the crowded streets to be noticed by anyone. Thyra had reappeared in the middle of the small group and had told what had happened in the bakery.

"It won't happen again."

"No, it won't! Because I'll be the one taking her head this time. You're too damned stupid to do it yourself, Thyra!"

"Faine, how are going to do that? She's always with that elf and warrior," one of the men asked.

"We will just have to surprise them. We all go in, kill them all and take her head. Her blood is what I need for this deal to be settled, I don't care who else gets in the way. He isn't going to wait for very much longer. If we don't kill her, than he's going to use her for his own purpose, and we won't get paid. I like getting paid."

"What does he want with her blood?" Thyra asked.

"I don't know, and I don't care. Some kind of ritual that he want's performed. The mage he's working with needs the blood. That's what he told me. That's what I'll get. In return we get lots of gold, now shut up wench, or tell me something that's worth knowing."

"They are at the Red Dragon Inn, Faine," Thyra answered coldly. She had moved to stand against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. He knew she hadn't taken kindly to his berating her, but he didn't care in the least.

"Burn it."